News : Insider

INU - President of the Iranian Resistance Maryam Rajavi has commended the brave shopkeepers and merchants across Iran that have gone on strike to protest the cruel and corrupt regime.

She said that their strike, which comes on the heels of the truckers strike, demonstrates the public demand for regime change, noting that none of the Iranian people’s problems will be solved so long as the mullahs remain in power.

She said: “The only solution is to end the mullahs’ tyrannical rule and establish democracy and popular sovereignty.”

Despite the widespread suppressive measures by the Iranian Regime, people have been on strike in cities across Iran, from Orumieh to Marivan, Chabahar to Abhar, Sanandaj to Miandoab, heeding the call of the Iranian Resistance.

The Bazaar merchants, fed up with the Regime’s tyranny, are protesting against the increase in foreign exchange rates, inflation, unprecedented recession in the bazaar, high prices of goods, and the growing level of poverty. And as history shows, the Bazaar merchants are the bellwether for political feeling in Iran. They came out against the Shah mere months before he fell, which indicates that the Regime will soon fall.

In the capital Tehran, the shopping centres, the carpet and gold coin markets, Sirus bazar, Satarkhan, the Grand Bazaar (Bazar-e Bozorg), and the shops in Kargar Avenue are closed.

In fact, the Iranian Resistance reports that by midday, markets in at least 45 cities had joined the strike, which rose to more than 50 by the end of the day. They were also able to get photos and videos of the protest through their intelligence network inside Iran.

According to merchants, the Regime’s security forces have threated to punish strikers, but that has yet to stop the striking workers, and the governor of Kermanshah has begged merchant to reopen their shops to no avail.

As previously mentioned, this wave of strikes is happening at the same time as the strike of Iran’s truck drivers, which has spread across all 31 provinces and through 318 cities. These strikes are part of a year of protest that Rajavi called for in March, following the uprising of December and January.